


Footprints

by QueenPotatos



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, no champagne bottles were harmed during this scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 23:58:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2045127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenPotatos/pseuds/QueenPotatos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin finds a surprising way to celebrate their first year together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Footprints

**Author's Note:**

> From the Freeiwa_daily challenge
> 
> Today theme was : Footprints

 

When  Haru goes  home from the pool this evening the kitchen smells of mackerel. It's just the perfect  way to end his tiring day, and as  Haru takes off his shoes in the entrance hall he can't think of how lucky he is to have  Rin by his side for so long - almost a year, nearly a year; well tomorrow it will be a year and  Haru still doesn't know what he should do about it.

Rin is a romantic maniac and had probably thought about that day for  months - and only God knows if he hadn't even started before they were even actually dating. Maybe he should take him to the town. To the restaurant. Buy him flowers and pay a violinist to play while they eat. Sure it will be embarrassing, and  Rin would probably yell but he would love it,  Haru is so sure of it that he takes out his phone to call  Rin's favorite restaurant.

It's not until he waits for someone to answer him that he sees the pink  post-it on the table.

' _Go to the beach_.' it says.

Haru hangs up. When he thinks about it...there is no one in the kitchen, or in the living room, no one upstairs either. The house is empty. There is no  Rin , and no mackerel; but just the smell of it - and of  Rin, too. It should have been here.

Guessing that it's all part of  Rin's plan, or new game he found during his boring afternoon,  Haru does as he is told, and walks to the beach, and in his mind gushed tons and tons of theories trying to find out what  Rin might have done this time.

When he finally arrives the sun hides timidly against the rocks. He can barely see it, but there is a bag on the sand -  Rin's bag. There is a pink post-it stuck on top of it, threatening to get loose by any gust of wind.

_ 'Follow the footprints,' _ it says.

Haru looks at the message, then at the sand near the bag. There are indeed some prints that match  Rin's baskets. He shrugs. Why not after all? It sounds very like something  Rin would do. 

He follows the steps, but then there is a cool breeze and the post-it flees from his hand. When he catches it back, it reads _'_ _Bring the bag with you idiot_ _'_ on the other side and  Haru smiles. That's sounds like something he'd forget to do.  There is a bottle of champagne inside it. Who's the idiot who leaves a bottle of champagne in the middle of a beach without any watching in a warm summer day, really?

The waves break on the beach. Soon there is no more footprints to follow.  Haru is lost in the middle of the beach, with a hot bottle of champagne and a pink post-it stuck on his middle fingers because  Rin was too stupid to walk where the Ocean won't reach his prints. And now,  Haru is so mad, because he didn't even think about bringing his phone.

But, then, it's there.

The scent of mackerel.

He can smell it miles away.

It's behind a sand dune.  Rin has settled a small table with two candles. He had brought the glasses, the dish; the mackerel is in the very center of their improvised picnic on the beach - perfectly cooked,  Haru notices.

Rin looks nervous. He is looking at his watch, scratches the back of his head and eyes the beach now and then but  Haru never comes, he never comes because  Rin isn't looking in the right direction.

Haru hides, and smiles. Really,  Rin is a romantic idiot, and he loves that idiot so much that he feels too flustered to walk casually toward him. So he just hides behind the other side of the dune, smiling like he never did, like an idiot - like  Rin \- until his heartbeat gets regular again, and that the slight blush on his face disappears.

"Rin," he says as he comes into view. His face his as serious as he can make it.

"Fuck  Haru you're late!"

"You're a day early."  Haru takes of the champagne out of the bag and glues it to  Rin's cheek.

"Hugh, it's hot."  Rin says, with a disappointed look on his face.

"Of course you let it boil under the sun."

Rin smiles sadly, and sighs. "I guess it was worth the try." He puts the bottle back in his bag. "They say it's going to rain tomorrow night, so I thought it was best to make it tonight. Plus, it's more of a surprise if I'm a day early. Happy anniversary,  Haru."

Haru falls in his arms, his hands lost in his long, silky red hair, his lips stuck into  Rin's .

The waves might have erased the footprints, but the two of them  will always find a way to get back to each other.

  


**Author's Note:**

> (Thank you so much for all the comments I've got. you have no idea of how much it means for me. Here is something to warm your heart a little bit)


End file.
